If your belly bulges after a high-carb meal like pasta, complex carbohydrate-rich foods may be the cause of your bloat, says Jackie Wolf, MD, author of A Woman’s Guide to a Healthy Stomach. Most starches, including potatoes, corn, pasta, and wheat, produce gas as they are broken down in the large intestine. Rice is the only starch that doesn’t cause gas, so have a ½-cup serving of brown rice (which has more fiber) if you want carbs with dinners.

Sometimes, to whip your body into shape, you have to get a little nutty. While nuts are high in fat, it’s that very fat that makes them such powerful weapons in the war against a ballooning belly. In fact, research from Reina Sofia University Hospital reveals that study participants who consumed a diet rich in monounsaturated fats, like those in nuts, over a 28-day period gained less belly fat than their saturated fat-consuming counterparts while improving their insulin sensitivity.

Cruciferous veggies are one of the healthiest vegetables you can eat, but unfortunately they’re also the ones most likely to cause your tummy to inflate. Thanks to raffinose, a compound that produces extra gas as it breaks down, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and the like can seriously increase your waistline. But don’t ditch them forever. Just save them for meals where you can wear loose pants. Here are other surprising foods that cause gas.
A low-carb diet could go a long way to help you shed fat and lose weight. But you don’t necessarily have to ditch your carbs if you want to know how to lose weight. Include more whole grains in your diet to help you burn belly fat faster. According to researchers at Tufts University, consuming three or more servings of whole grains on a daily basis, could reduce as much as 10 per cent of visceral body fat. If too much of visceral fat is accumulated in your body, it could increase your risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure.
"Feeling stressed can wreak havoc on our bodies. It can cause our body to produce the steroid hormone cortisol, which can make you crave sugary foods that provide instant energy and pleasure. Short-term bursts of cortisol are necessary to help us cope with immediate danger, but our body will also release this hormone if we’re feeling stressed or anxious. When our cortisol levels are high for a long amount of time, it can increase the amount of fat you hold in your belly."
Intermittent fasting -- here's a thorough guide to intermittent fasting -- is not a diet, although you can follow an intermittent fasting schedule in conjunction with a calorie reduction plan. It's just a different way of eating -- and a great way to burn more fat and change your body composition and shift your muscle to fat ratio toward a greater percentage of muscle.
Steer clear of alcohol for the next few days to maximize your body’s belly-flattening capabilities. Alcohol causes dehydration and may slow your body’s ability to eliminate that excess weekend waste, so if you had a little too much to drink this weekend, start chugging the H20. It’s best to eliminate that occasional glass of wine, beer, or hard alcohol this week while you’re on a skinny jeans crusade—all are high-acid beverages that can irritate your GI tract and cause swelling.
That means Pink Lady over Granny Smith, watermelon over honeydew, red grapes over green ones. The higher levels of nutrients called flavonoids—particularly anthocyanins, compounds that give red fruits their color—calm the action of fat-storage genes. In fact, red-bellied stone fruits like plums boast phenolic compounds that have been shown to modulate the expression of fat genes. To learn more about turning on and off your fat genes, check out the essential list: 21 Nutrition Myths—Busted!

Make sure to program your cardio exercise in with your weight training the right way, though — a 2017 study found that performing cardio and weight training workouts on alternate days was far more effective for burning belly fat than stacking the workouts on top of each other in the same session. Put the two together, and watch that unhealthy midsection shrink.

You can do this simple exercise by lying down on your left side with your elbow directly beneath your shoulder and your legs one on top of the other. Place your right hand on your right hip. Now, tighten your abs and lift your hips off the floor. This way, you will be directly working the abdominal muscles. Hold for a minimum of 30 seconds and repeat on the other side.
Garlic doesn’t just act like a strong flavor that enhances the taste of your food, but it also helps lose belly fat considerably. According to one research subjects who were provided with a high-fat diet supplemented with garlic, lost significantly more weight and fat around their abdomens as compared to the mice that just consumed fatty food. Garlic also helped them improve their liver health.
Cherries have several health benefits. They are a good source of antioxidant pigment resveratrol, a substance that helps you lose weight, lowers rates of macular degeneration among older people as well as the risk of dementia. According to the data collected from a study at the University of Michigan, rats that were provided with high-fat food along with tart cherries lost nine per cent more body fat than those in a control group did over just 12 weeks.
Add a cup of low-fat milk, a part-skim mozzarella stick, or a half cup of low-sodium cottage cheese to breakfast, and you may have a belly-busting win. While lots of research links calcium with lower body weights, results from a 2014 study suggest that calcium-containing foods may reduce waist circumference in those genetically predisposed to carrying weight in their midsection.

Yeah, it sounds a little weird, but hear us out. Experts say that certain compounds in olive oil stimulate a hormone in your stomach that signals to your brain that it's full. Thus, it curbs your appetite so your body doesn't feel quite as hungry. You probably don't want to shoot it straight up, so try dipping some multigrain bread into about a tablespoon of the stuff 15 minutes before a meal. Quirky, but it should keep you from overeating and packing on unnecessary pounds.

Berries contain antioxidants that help reduce inflammation throughout the body. According to a University of Michigan research, rats who were fed a diet rich in berries, shaved off a substantial amount of belly fat in comparison to a control group. Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries are loaded with resveratrol, the antioxidant pigment which is known to help you lose weight.

Keeping a toothbrush handy can do more than polish up that smile (and counter the effects of all that belly-slimming garlic); brushing your teeth throughout the day can also help you ditch that belly fat fast. A study conducted a sample of over 14,000 participants found that brushing after every meal was linked to lower weight. That minty toothpaste flavor not only clashes with virtually every food, brushing may also trigger a Pavlovian response that tells your brain the kitchen’s closed.